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Vic mine took relevant precautions

Genevieve Gannon

The disused part of a Victorian coal mine that burned for 45 days was not "wetted down" as thoroughly as operational areas as the company prioritised the mine's assets, an inquiry has heard.

The northern batters of the Hazelwood mine also lack the extensive pipe network present in the mine's active areas, the inquiry heard.

The mine's services superintendent David Shanahan said other fire protection measures were in place.

"You've still got the wetting-down equivalent in the clay capping," Mr Shanahan said of the northern batters, where the fire took hold.

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The fire shrouded the neighbouring town of Morwell in smoke and ash after it ignited on February 9 during the state's worst bushfire danger day since Black Saturday.

On the second day of an inquiry into the blaze, state government lawyer Josh Wilson QC pressed Mr Shanahan on why the batters containing highly combustible coal were not "wetted down" when the bushfire threat became known.

"The size of the northern batters hasn't got that extensive pipe spraying system that's going to wet all the batters down," Mr Shanahan said.

"Our primary aim is to protect coal, the assets that are on the coal, so that we can maintain supply."

Earlier, Mr Shanahan said on the day of the fire, some sprinklers had been turned off so water could be diverted to protect critical infrastructure.

He clarified sprinklers were not turned off in the area that caught fire.

"The areas turned off were never affected during the course of the whole fire," he said.

He also said a meeting of the mine's incident controllers on the afternoon the fire took hold was told not to expect much support from the Country Fire Authority, "given the priorities the CFA had on them at the time".

"We knew they had some bigger issues with defending the town of Morwell."

He said someone at the meeting had had contact with the CFA but he didn't know who.

There was a lack of co-ordination with the CFA to the point that one of its aircraft dumped retardant on two employees, one worker said.

"We did not have any communication from air support," James Mauger told the inquiry.